The quest to design a smarter road

Colin Sultan, 3M Business Manager and Kris Hansen, Connected Roads Lab Manager were interviewed for the story, which highlights 3M’s work in developing pavement markings with “wet reflectivity”, 3M’s smart code traffic signs, and the need for redundancy in the infrastructure for safety.

You’ve probably heard about the version of the future where everyone zips around in autonomous car pods on hyper-connected smart streets that act as a literal information superhighway–coordinating traffic, keeping a constant vigilant eye on other vehicles, and transforming the hectic experience of driving into a connected, orderly march.

The way our roads will adapt to self-driving cars in the coming years probably won’t be quite as sexy as the disruptive talking roads of futurists’ dreams. Instead, it will involve small, more affordable tweaks to existing infrastructure–like specialized paint for highway markings, and even the highway signs themselves. A new connected-roads venture by the materials manufacturing giant 3M is a glimpse of that slightly less glamorous–but more plausible–future.